Tuesday 8 July 2025 – SENSATIONAL new evidence reveals that South Africa’s illicit cigarette trade has soared to “anarchic” levels, supercharged by brands from the tobacco company at the centre of the ‘Gold Mafia’ money-laundering allegations and facing a multi-billion-rand tax claim from SARS.
A major study released today by market researchers IPSOS shows that illicit cigarettes are now sold in three in every four stores across South Africa (76.6%) – almost triple the rate from three years ago.
Dominating this illegal price war are brands owned by the Gold Leaf Tobacco Corporation (GLTC), which operates out of Johannesburg and Harare. In March 2023, Al Jazeera’s Gold Mafia documentary exposed GLTC’s involvement in alleged smuggling and money-laundering on a massive scale.
Despite facing a R3 billion tax claim from SARS, Gold Leaf – which now trades under the name Polaris Manufacturing – appears to have grabbed an even bigger share of the market in so-called ‘cheapies’, with GLTC brands being the cheapest available in almost half the stores visited.
“This is anarchy and looting on an industrial scale,” said Yusuf Abramjee, founder of Tax Justice SA (TJSA). ““All evidence suggests that Gold Leaf Tobacco is continuing to evade taxes, which essentially means that it’s using SARS’ own money to pay its SARS penalties, while our law enforcement agencies stand by and watch. This brazen criminality cannot continue.”
The comprehensive IPSOS study of 4,696 outlets reveals that GLTC brands are now the cheapest available in 2,021 stores – almost double the number from a year ago (1,072).
A staggering 89% of GLTC products were sold at or below the minimum collectible tax (MCT) of R26.22, up from 79% last year.
Gold Leaf’s brand Chief was the cheapest available in 798 outlets, with 100% of products purchased selling below the legal tax threshold.
“The audacity is breathtaking,” Abramjee continued. “While SARS pursues them for R3 billion in unpaid taxes, Gold Leaf appears to have ramped up their illegal operations. They’re laughing at our tax authorities and making a mockery of our justice system.”
Although SARS has taken civil and asset-freezing action against GLTC, no criminal charges have been brought by the Hawks or National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) despite referrals of more than 100 suspects in the ‘Gold Mafia’ network since 2020.
Meanwhile, the new IPSOS research, the latest in a series of mystery shopper surveys started in 2021, reveals:
- Illicit cigarettes are on sale in more than three in every four stores nationwide (76.6%) up from almost two in three (59.3%) in 2024, and from one in four (27%) in October 2022.
- There is no longer a single province where illicit cigarettes are available in fewer than 68% of stores, with incidence in North West soaring from 0.5% last year to 80.2% in 2025
- In three more provinces, illicit cigarettes are sold in more than four in every five stores – Western Cape (81.7%), Eastern Cape (82.5%), Northern Cape (67.3%)
- Cigarettes are selling for as little as R5 for a pack of 20 – less than one-fifth of the MCT of R26.22 (R22.80 excise plus R3.42 VAT)
- The illicit trade is most rife in the wholesale (85.7%) and informal 93.8% sectors – with the latter showing a 30% increase since last year
More than a third of the illicit purchases in the survey were brands belonging to companies that are resisting SARS’ legal right to install 24/7 camera surveillance in cigarette warehouses.
These firms include Carnilinx, a principal member of the Fair Trade Independent Tobacco Association (FITA). More than 94% Carnilinx brands purchased were sold at illicit prices.
Other litigants against SARS, and the percentages of their brands sold below MCT, are: Best Tobacco (94.4%), Afroberg (95.5%), United Tobacco (100%), Amalgamated Tobacco Manufacturers (100%), Folha (100%), Protobac (100%), Bozza (100%) and Harrison (100%).
“We’re witnessing the complete collapse of tax compliance in the tobacco sector,” said Abramjee. “These licensed tobacco companies not just evading taxes – they’re stealing from every South African. Criminal kingpins are getting rich on money that’s needed for vital services, while our children go without textbooks and our hospitals lack medicines.”
Tax Justice South Africa calls on:
- The Hawks and NPA to immediately act against those implicated in the Gold Mafia network
- SARS to intensify enforcement action and implement emergency measures to halt the illegal trade
- Parliament to investigate the systematic failure of law enforcement to act on tobacco crime
“The time for half-measures and diplomatic language is over,” Abramjee declared. “We demand action, we demand arrests and we demand justice for the South African people.”